Ruan Shujin stared at the children gathered around her, feeling a bone-deep chill spread through her entire body.
Her eldest son reined in his temper, draped an arm affectionately over Ruan Shujin’s shoulders, and coaxed her,
“Mom, just try to look on the bright side. While you’re at it, help take care of Aunt Shuya too. We young people don’t know how to look after others, and didn’t you say you wanted a grandson? You’ll just have to work a bit harder and shoulder more of the burden.”
Ruan Shujin smiled at her eldest son, casually grabbed something at hand, and swung it at him. Unfortunately, the beast of a son dodged nimbly and bolted away.
She glanced at her remaining sons and daughters, her voice hoarse.
“You all knew about this long ago, didn’t you?”
Just looking at the guilty expressions on their faces—too ashamed to speak—Ruan Shujin knew that she was the only fool.
The more she thought about it, the more she couldn’t get past it. She could no longer hear what the people around her were saying. Blood seeped from the corner of her mouth, and with a loud bang, Ruan Shujin collapsed straight to the floor.
She had lived forty-five years, believing that once her children grew up and her husband’s career took off, life would finally get better—only to be angered to death alive.
Ruan Shujin’s soul drifted through the house. Her body hadn’t even gone cold yet when her husband rushed to register a marriage with his white moonlight. In the blink of an eye, her children threw all her belongings into the trash heap. Her parents-in-law, whom she had treated as her own, cursed her, despising her for dying so inauspiciously.
What made it even more infuriating was that all these years, she had believed she’d entered her husband’s heart—yet An Minhua’s heart had never held even the tiniest place for her. While she worked herself to the bone serving the family, An Minhua was enjoying moonlit strolls and whispered affections with Zheng Shuya.
They even adopted a son together in the name of husband and wife.
Even though there had been no physical relationship between them, in Ruan Shujin’s heart, this was still betrayal.
Only after dying, after living half a lifetime, did Ruan Shujin finally understand the words her maternal grandfather had left her on his deathbed—
The An family truly had not a single good person among them.
A powerful force suddenly seized her, followed by a violent crushing of her internal organs.
Wasn’t she dead?
Then why did it still hurt?
As her thoughts blurred, Ruan Shujin slowly opened her eyes. Taking in the surroundings, she didn’t hesitate at all—she slapped herself twice.
Ruan Shujin sucked in a sharp breath.
It really hurt!
There was a knock at the door. Staring at the old woman who entered in response, Ruan Shujin grabbed the servant holding a bowl of medicine and rasped out,
“Tell me—what time is it now?”
The servant stared at her young lady, whose mind only ever revolved around men, with the expression of someone seeing a ghost in broad daylight.
After a few seconds, she replied,
“Miss, today is June 3rd, 1966.”
Ruan Shujin waved her hand. Understanding immediately, the servant set the medicine down and fled as if her life depended on it.
Ruan Shujin found it hard to believe—she had actually returned to 1966.
This year was the nightmare of all capitalists.
The Ruan family owned Shanghai’s largest textile mill and naturally could not escape its fate.
As early as the beginning of the year, there had already been rumors of bad news. Some believed them, others didn’t—until several well-known private entrepreneurs were arrested and sent for labor reform. Only then did everyone realize the rumors were true.
The authorities were really going to act. These detestable capitalists would all pay a terrible price.
In her previous life, because her own mother was a hopeless love-brained fool and had long been driven out of the Ruan family, Ruan Shujin was raised as the heir to the textile mill. Yet she herself was a fool as well—trusting her parents, falling in love with scum, and in the end, even stupidly following An Minhua to the countryside to suffer.
Meanwhile, her stepsister Zheng Shuya had been caught by guards while fleeing to Hong Kong with others. This had nothing to do with Ruan Shujin at all, yet she didn’t know what pillow talk Zheng Shuya whispered into An Minhua’s ear—somehow, Ruan Shujin inexplicably became the villain.
Thinking of An Minhua made Ruan Shujin want to pry open her own skull and see what had been inside it—how could she have been so blind, insisting it had to be him?
While she was lost in thought, the door was knocked so hard it was nearly broken down.
“Come in!”
As soon as Ruan Shujin answered, the person outside burst in and threw herself at her.
“Waaah—A-Jin, what are we going to do? Your father says the situation is already very tense. Where are we supposed to go?”
“A-Jin, why aren’t you responding? Didn’t your maternal grandfather leave you a dowry? Where is it kept? Hurry and take it out—we can use it to get through this emergency first!”
The affected sobbing made Ruan Shujin’s head ache.
Looking at the woman before her, Ruan Shujin silently clenched the blanket. This was her own love-brained mother—nothing but a pretty face, utterly useless.
“Mom, stop crying. My head hurts.”
Ruan Humei’s shoulders shook as she dabbed her tears with a handkerchief.
Watching her like this, Ruan Shujin once again felt the urge to slap herself.
Such fake acting—and only she had believed it. She had treated them as family, never realizing that from beginning to end, all they wanted was her money.
Ruan Humei glanced at Ruan Shujin cautiously.
“Daughter… are you still blaming me?”
“If you don’t want to marry in Shuya’s place, then don’t. I’m not forcing you to.”
“But you’re the eldest sister. You have to think about your younger siblings. Shuya is so delicate and weak—how could she marry that down-and-out childhood betrothed of hers? She’d be ground down to death.”
“My daughter is different. You have wealth to rely on, and your personality is strong. Naturally, you won’t be bullied.”
“But that’s not the most important thing right now. What matters is that it’s already June. The inside news your father got says that by August, the great movement will officially begin. What are we supposed to do then?”
Ruan Humei’s words stirred Ruan Shujin’s memories.
In her previous life, after her mother cried to her like this, and after Ruan Shujin also received warnings from business partners in the chamber of commerce, she immediately handed over the family industries, packed their luggage and remaining assets, and sent her family away.
She herself, without hesitation, followed An Minhua to the far northeast for labor reform. It wasn’t until the end of the year that she finally received news from home and learned that Zheng Shuya hadn’t left with them.
At the time, Ruan Shujin could barely protect herself. Coupled with her own selfishness, she didn’t concern herself with Zheng Shuya’s fate.
When she heard news of Zheng Shuya again, the great movement had already ended. That was when she and An Minhua had their fiercest argument. Afraid that Zheng Shuya would appear and snatch An Minhua away, she threatened him with her life, forcing him to abandon the idea of looking for Zheng Shuya.
Yet she never expected that An Minhua would still go behind her back, use his connections to pull Zheng Shuya out of that isolated village, and support her for all those years.
Ruan Shujin shook her head violently. She couldn’t think about it anymore—if she kept going, she feared she wouldn’t even live a full day before dying all over again.
Ruan Humei glanced at Ruan Shujin uneasily.
“A-Jin?”
“Good girl… what’s wrong with you?”